Horse-collar fastener.



510. 887,366. PATENTED MAY 12, 1908'.

o. A. WHIPPLE L G. W. FING'H.

HORSE COLLAR FASTBNER.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNI: 27. 190s.

y I v @www .q l r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

CHARLES A. WHIPPLE AND GEORGE W. FINCH, OF ELK RIVER, MINNESOTA.

HORSE-COLLAR FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 1908.

Application filed June 27, 1906. Serial No. 323,670.

To all whom it may conncern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES A. VHIP- PLE and GEORGE W. FINon, citizensof the United States, residing at Elk River, in the county of Sherburneand State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Horse-Collar Fasteners, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to improvements in fasteners for the upper ends ofhorse collars, its object being particularly to provide an improvedconstruction of fastener which will automatically lock when the ends ofthe horse collar are closed and which will also be especially easy ofseparation.

To this end our invention consists in the features of construction andcombination hereinafter particularly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification: Figurel is a perspective view of the upper ends of a horse collar fitted withour invention; Fig. 2 is a section of our invention taken on line 11:06of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of our invention.

In the drawings A represents a horse collar. Secured to the outer sidesof the upper ends of the collar are plates 2 and 3, said plates beingformed at their inner ends with upwardly extending flanges 4. The flangeof the plate 2 carries guides 5 adapted to extend through opening 6 inthe flange of the plate 3 when the collar ends are closed. The flangesare held together by a clamp 7 having hinge support 8 on one of theflanges, said clamp being bent at its inner end to fit over and receivethe centers of both flanges.

In order to turn the clamp upward so that it will automatically dropinto locking position when the collar ends are closed, we provide a lug9 projectinglaterally from the inner side of the clamp, so that when thecollar ends are being closed, the inclined lower edge of the lug willengage with the upper edges of the flanges, raising the free end of theclamp until the flanges are brought close enough together by the closingof the collar to allow the clamp to drop into locking position. Theclamp is also provided with an outwardly extending finger portion l0, bymeans of which it may be turned upon its pivot 8 to open position. Theplates 2 and 3 are suitably secured to the collar as by means of bolts11.

In operation, with the collar ends open, all that is necessary to do isto force the ends together when the lifting lug 9 will engage with theupper edges of the flanges, raising the clam as illustrated in Fig. 2and allowing the anges to come together. As soon as the flanges cometogether, the clamp will drop into locking position. The guides 5cooperate with the lifting lug to hold the members of the fasteningdevice secured together. lVhen it is desired to disconnect the device,the clamp may be raised by applying pressure to the finger extension 10.

fe claim:

1. A horse collar fastening comprising a pair .of members havin(Tupturned meeting flanges, a clamp pivotally supported on one flange, andbeing bent at its inner end to receive both said flanges, a fingerportion 1() carried by the outer end of said clamp, a lug 9 extending atright angles from the inner side of said clamp adjacent to its flangereceiving portion, the lower side of said lug being inclined upwardlytoward its outer end to engage with and ride across the upper edge ofthe adjacent flange when said flanges are brought together, therebylifting the bent upper end of said clamp above said flanges.

2. In combination with the ends of a horse collar, a fastening deviceconsisting of a pair of members secured to said horse collar ends andprovided with upwardly turned meeting flanges, a clamp pivotallysupported upon one flange and being constructed to receive both saidflanges, a lifting lug carried by the inner side of said clamp andextending at CHARLES A. VHIPPLE. GEORGE W. FINCH.

`Witnesses FRANK L. SALTER, CHAs. W. CARTER.

